Harley was never I can fix. It was always I want to marry him and keep close to him. Have you ever really gotten into any Harley content besides the very surface level? Harleen wanted to fix him but Harley was always there to accompany him. She loved him. Punchline who knows honestly. She doesn’t make sense but I like her design so i hope they can make her into an interesting character.
@@eclipses3131plus I guess if Harley wanted to fix Joker, then she wouldn’t be willingly committing awful crimes alongside joker for fun and to get his attention.
Do you remember how Jason Todd was created? The bat books wanted Batman to have a kid sidekick again, but Dick was an adult leading DC's most popular book, so Dick graduated to Nightwing and they created Jason to be the new Robin. That it felt like Punchline was. It felt like the Batman writers wanted to do some Harley and Joker stuff, but Harley was too popular to put her back in that position, so they made Punchline to fill that role. That's why it never made sense that Punchline quickly got her own series and started separating herself from the Joker. It just goes against her purpose, so it makes sense if they are bringing her back to that role.
I was about to make this exact point (good thing I read first). Punchline reads a lot to me like Jason and Tim (we want evil Harley but we can't make Harley evil again).
@@BallsMonkey Making Harley flat evil again (while still bringing up her blood-soaked past, or past depictions, canon depending) would have been as much a regression as making Dick Robin again - or using evil magic to undo a major hero's marriage - and then again using it to undo even the base relationship - old fanboy shutting up now.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz Modern Harley is better and developed. Nightwing is an incredible character. Dark Crisis was awkward as hell with him in his old costume. Happy they aren't bringing in Marvel's devil to exchange their marriage for a life. If only they would tell Arizona to stop going backwards '64.
And Jason originally was literally a carbon copy of dick. It wasn't until after the first crisis he got his own character. And even then the writers had no idea what to do with him and kept flip flopping around which disinterested/frustrated readers until they just voted him dead. And it was again YEARS until superboy prime's punch brought him back and he was cool for a while but again writers ultimately didn't know what to do with him. And he again got major changes in the new 52 and rebirth... none of which really lasted. All that to say, when you say Punchline reminds you of Jason.... isn't that the problem? Jason STILL hasn't escaped being created as a Dick replacement. Writers can't be consistent with him to save their lives, nor can they give him long lasting growth, or make him a huge focal point like Dick from time to time. He's always just kinda there now and they very blatantly don't know what to do with that. And this sucks because Red-Hood is my favorite batfamily member when they do good by him (like rebirth Outlaws). But there's nothing that stays consistent with the character.
I think she works best from the perspective of just being a nihilistic and sick individual, but not in the same way of needing actual mental help like with Harley. She is just a bad person with lofty goals and ideals for herself. And the only reason she favors joker above other gotham villains is because of his #1 status. She is more than willing to let him use her to almost any end, as long as she can use his clout to express her voice and perspective while he's doing so.
My pitch for a Black Label one-shot Harley story, very much based on the White Knight interpretation, but with the addition of Punchline. Dr Harleen Qunizel, the leotard-wearing original Harley has run been off the radar for years, living incognito. For years, much of the goofy unhinged violent bimbo personality is an act, a leftover survival mechanism to integrate with the Joker and his gang, and afterwards, it's where she compartmentalizes all the murder, terrorism and crimes against decency she's done. Back when she was his partner-in-crime, when Harley's totally relaxed and sure there's no audience to play to, or in incredibly high stress, analytical or otherwise traumatic scenarios where Harley gives into her Dr Quinzel self to prevent Harley's goofball from cracking and shattering under the pressure. Now, away from Joker for a while, the Doctor Quinzel side of her personality, the analytical professional side, has been able to flourish again. Probably a teacher grading reports for the psychology unit in Gotham Academy with the rest of the C-and-D listers that's become the staff under Hammerhead. She's teaching Maps and Olive and Kyle and Damian and all the rest. Sure, the architecture's gloomy, and the kids maddening with their adventurous antics, but life's good. She's even undyed her hair (Jokes' on you, she's not even a REAL blonde!) and nobody notices the faint sing-songy accent she's tempered. Marian Drews filled in for the murderous, scantily-clad Suicide Squad Harley and the Clown is too in his narcissism or solipsism to notice or care the difference. Then comes the news. Joker's dead or missing. Now the Joker Gang is in the middle of a civil war - Marian's Harley, the violently slapstick lover as the heir of Joker as his closest confidante. On the other hand, Alexis Kaye the Punchline, his closest acolyte, the herald to his "message" (in reality, she's just a violent narcissist chasing his coattails for attention and clout) as a movement. Now, someone's leaked out the existence of Harleen, and as far as they're concerned, she's one loose end, a threat to their own legitimacy - even though Harleen wants nothing to do with any of it. Looks like the only way out, is through. Time to pick up the mallet again.
That's the best part of her character. She's Harley Quinn if she was chaotic evil from the start. I think that's why Joker fucks with her, because she has her own goals that go beyond being his new squeeze. Maybe that's why things went sour between him and Harley, Harley never upgraded from that henchwoman mentality and she got stale. At least, that's what I've always thought.
Tynion did an interview with Last Podcast on The Left where he basically admitted that Punchline WAS a Harley replacement. He said that as a small-time writer with DC at the time that he didn't really get to say what happened with big name characters like Harley Quinn if she needed to get pulled into some kind of big event comic. So if he made his own versions of these characters he could do what he wanted without the higher ups taking them away from him.
Yeah but why? Are these stories interesting if you assume they could be starring 90's Harley Quinn in her place? I don't sense any passion in wanting to tell these stories ABOUT Harleen any more than about Alexis. It does inspire MY fanficcy brain, that gets going to fill in the blanks in flawed characters. I would make it Alexis' destiny to learn the reverse of Anti-Life Equation, and become immortal but sort of like a ghost. Then her "power" so to speak would be actually being able to manipulate Joker, like Chaos Theory representing the basic concept of life. Then Punchline would represent the fact Batman doesn't kill, but her power over Joker would represent what is essentailly an ego-death and equivalent of the "I didn't kill him, only lobotomized him" argument. This relationship is partly inspired by Thanos and Death with the sides reversed, partly by the midpoint twist in Death Note. Partly by cartoon logic where Tom somehow survives Jerry's punchlines.
i like the idea of just a bunch of punchline alts where she's still a psychopath but modeled herself after OTHER batman villains. like,just think of instead of "punchline" she's "question mark" or "hen" (a female penguin) or "mask" (as in the mask that hides the two-face). i think it would be fun just to see what might have been.XD
Common criticism of DC and Marvel is that they don't create enough new, but when they do and people like them they typically drive them into the ground through neglect or overly pushing them to quickly make them a bigger thing. Having different writers tackle characters that were just created so they would be moved to something else makes little sense to me. It usually ends in disaster for the new upcoming star(s) like that clearly happened with Punchline.
The thing is, I don’t even know if Punchline is popular. She’s very prevalent right now, but I honestly wonder if anyone who isn’t keeping up with comics would even have a mild idea she exists. Heck, even those who do probably just think of her as the Harley replacement
They never seem to take their time with new characters anymore, I mean I would have personally liked more of the Punchline Podcast, and her trial arc, it should have been longer and more in depth. Punchline needed to focus more on the psychological horror and manipulation part of the character before she was thrown out in the "wild" and used in combat. It would have been great if she used more trickery in her fighting as well instead of just being a martial artist like everybody else. Perhaps dress the hostages up like her and poison them, or pretend to be a hostage herself, only to poison Batman, or steal his blood to make a designer poison. Which in my opinion could have made for a great storyline for introducing Punchline to the larger universe and audience, it would have shown her as enough of a threat to hurt Batman, but not made her look like an overpowered Harley Replacement. As for now I think the way to go with Punchline is slow and a bit creepy. She needs to take a step back from the frontlines and work on more poisons or, perhaps work the internet angle more. Instead of leading the Royal Flush Gang or fighting Catwoman, she needs to really cement herself as an original independent character. Sure she should still be working for/with the Joker, using his labs and henchmen and such, but she needs to build her own unique character who is allowed to grown and do her own things, instead of just doing whatever the writers need doing. Let her be a more modern horror leaning character and not just another brawler with a quirk. Oh and please don't let her become a hero or anti-hero, we need more properly terrible villains. I don't mind if she has a sad backstory or turns out to maybe actually be a victim in one way or another, but let her stay bad. As a side note: I want to see Punchline ukulele apology memes
Ooh, I like the idea of "Joker's influence on Gotham's youth.". What if Punchline represents the first of "The Jokerz Gang" as seen in Batman Beyond? That always struck me as an inevitability, and I don't not mean "in real life", but I never questioned where it started. Maybe Punchline is ground zero for disaffection Joker cosplayers turned actual gangbanger and villain.
It'd be a good time to bring back classic Red, Black, and Blonde Harley as well. I kinda missed that look, although they can go with the hoodie-jester hat version from Suicide Squad Isekai instead of the old hat
Reminds me of how she ripped out Bluebird's piercing. That said, I kinda don't like the "these two are rivals because of the same man they dated being their only real common thread". I really wanna see her become Bluebird's archrival.
I always thought it could interesting for Punchline and the Joker to have a mentor-mentee relationship, kind of like Batman and Robin, a dark siblings feel
I honestly don't mind the idea of Punchline being a replacement Harley. If Batman can replace Robin's i don't see why the Joker can't replace his 2nd in command. I imagine when Dick got replaced by Jayson the fans were pissed and wouldn't accept the change, now we got like 10 robins. Harley herself was a replacement too- for bob. Joker's number 1 guy. I honestly would love to see more of Bob in punchline. Have her bring a more dry sarcastic energy to joker's high level camp. It honestly would work better with her mime design too. And i like her working more on the executive side of Joker's operations, that would differentiate her from Harley. Harley never really got involved in the planning stage of Joker's crimes, she just mostly swang a big hammer at whoever was trying to hurt her pudding. Punchline, on the other hand, makes suggestions and acts on her own to make things more difficult for batman, brings a down to earth cynical realism to Joker's high concept insane schemes, kinda like the classic reddit competent henchman. But she lacks Harley's fighting abilty. She probably just surrenders as soon as she faces a fight she can't win. Harley would fight batman to help the Joker, Punchline will just run away and break him out of arkham next week or something. And you could have a good conflict with that.
Honestly would have preferred if she was really just a straight up Harley replacement, but they tried to hard to immediately distance her character from the joker
Honestly her mini where she beat uo the Joker after he saved her life is an evolutionary dead end, she was created as a replacement for Harley to fill that gap, removing her from that and trying to make her the next big villain isnt going to work, i think its best she is kept as the Harley stand in of the main universe since Joker and Harley likely can't be getting back together in the main books for editorial reasons.
as well as the fact they've already made various comics about them breaking up and harley trying to move on, putting them back together now just feels weird
@@knightsblight not to mention the push for Harlivy or Harleyshot in different media, but the Joker have a moll(henchgirl) is too perfect an idea, so obviously switch them out like Batman does with his sidekicks.
@@MidnightIsolde she will never be the next big villain, at best a primary rival to a Batgirl like Babs or a cast off nobody like Bluebird she isn't even in Catwoman's league given Selina was trained by some of the worlds best abd has a ton of experience abd can rival Bruce in combat realistically Selina should take her apart in 5 minutes same with Harley who is an Olympic level athlete abd has received training by ARGUS, Power Girl and the Amazon's aswell as several self defense courses and again has a ton of experience, experience is key and training Punchline has none of that at best she is a punk who gets in a lucky shot also the Joker would never save her/value her he is incapable of that.
I don't think this would necessarily be like. Narratively rich but I think it'd be so funny if punchline was like. Jokers starscream. Like, she helps him out, but whenever he does something outside her perception of what his message is/who he should be, she decides she could do it better and tries to usurp him, for one reason or another it doesn't work out, and she keeps crawling back to an anarchist with a love for the perpetual chase, aka the only person who'd tolerate that kind of thing. At least it'd be funny for a period of time before she goes on to do other things. More funny in concept than practice, but still
1. Harley x Punchline vid please. 2. She feels like she is in the Kamala Khan corner of " we want to use this character but no idea what to do with her. Please help."
Yeah it is it as has the potential to be really serious or really comedic. I think it would be funny for lex to end up with a kid/teen sidekick/minion mainly because like how Harley and punchline are clown themed for joker I imagine the kid doing the same thing and Lex Luther walking around with small bold teenager in a suit who’s trying to be just like him is super funny to me
i feel like your videos should be part of the "homework" that anybody will have to do if they would want to adapt Punchline to another medium (be it cartoon live action or video games)
She does kind of feel like this inversion to Tim Drake. With both of them seeking out their mentors, instead of the other way around with their predecessor(s).
Punchline is a new character who's still being developed. And its clear she began as a design and a name and its up to future authors to really build her identity. That said, here's my take: There are three parts to a basic joke. The premise, the set-up, and the punchline. In a really well put together comedy set, one joke leads into another. In a *GREAT* comedy set, each puncline can become the premise for the next punchline. Also, the Punchline is the most likely part of a joke to become a meme. Just hearing a famous punchline can call to mind an entire joke that takes 20 minutes to tell. (Ex. "Third base"). But a Punchline's *purpose* in a joke is to contrast the premise and set-up in a way that surprises the audience. When a Punchline "lands" it triggers that positive surprise. (Ex. "This set isn't working. I'm pulling out. I have five kids; be glad I learned how.") If Punchline is going to live up to her name, she's probably best used in a role where she spoils plotlines in a way that improves on them. For example, letting the other prisoners escape foils Batman's escape attempt *and* the Warden's plan to lock people up at the same time. But it's not funny, so the Punchline doesn't "land" and she escapes in the confusion.
Isn't that what Zoom and The Spot are? Personification of repeating a line like "Im ALWAYS angry!" from MCU even when it doesn't add up to a reference, as an anti-joke. Not trying to be dismissive but Punchline is such a nothing character, I kinda would rather put down the haters for BOTHERING to hate her. I don't think she's so in-your-face woke or anything, as could be read on the likes of Miles Morales, somewhat unfairly. She's just this plastic-bag-wearing non-character. I don't even wanna say store brand Harley Quinn because, I don't see the connection. It's more just stated, claimed, that she's connected to Joker OR WHATEVER but I don't even see it being played out. It reads like a marketing blurb. Like a toy that never ended up in the saturday morning cartoon. I'm just more fascinated at myself than anything else, at how little I care, and coming back to caring this much about not giving a shit. This is for sure what inhaling copium feels like, but it gets to me so bad, I can't even pick at my wn brain deep enough to find the self-awareness on HOW this is me actually caring. Yet the intrusive thought remains, and focus on Punchline I do. Maybe it's just me liking Waluigi so much.
I think an interesting place to take Punchline might just be, to some extent, Bob from Batman '89. Make her Joker's "Number One Guy". Someone Joker has a legitimate degree of TRUST in. Not just to do what they're told, but someone who, at least kinda, gets the "vision". Play off the Joker's "entertainer" aspect, and have her be the Agent, the Stage Manager, the person who's whole life is making sure "the Talent" gets what they are looking for. And because of this, she becomes the one person the Joker will seriously listen to. Not OBEY, mind you. Nothing that direct. But she's savvy enough to know what to say to him, and he knows she wants to see the Big Show as much as him. Example: Joker sees something on the news that tweaked his nose. Politician, business mogul, whoever. And he's ABOUT to derail some scheme to go out there and make an example of them. But Punchline is able to steer him back on course, maybe comes up with a way to include the target IN the scheme. And in this way, she becomes a kind of force multiplier for the Joker. Or another idea: the Joker is trying to put a plan together, but it's just not working. Show him visibly frustrated and upset that it's just not coming together. And it's Punchline who, not "fixes", but finds the thread that makes the whole plan work. That she understands what he's trying to do well enough that he can accept her help.
Oh no, she is the legendary manager! I love it. She could also be the one being like, that idea is over-budget, we can either scale down the operation or rob some banks, but that would mean rescheduling and missing the Christmas date, so it could no longer have a murderous Santa Claus.
I feel like Tynion had a good thing going with it, at a base level that could be expanded on, but those following him were kind of lost on the subject.
Yes, i think that was implicit in her being a podcaster. It should have been obscure online media because the implication was that her content was controversial and therefore a bit underground. Therefore, making her a famous youtube influencer was actually a miss. It makes no real sense for her to have a broad mainstream fanbase. This was worsens by her being upset about 'mean comments'. Really? I see Punchline as wanting the sort of fame of the 'true Kult black metal' niche i.e. purposefully obscure and inaccessible to normies. Likewise, she doesn't so much want Joker's fame or clout, but rather to be evil like him, and therefore infamous. @@obligatory-handle
I'm glad you called attention to the "Godtier fetishization" thing in the run because that is what makes it so unappealing to me. Repulsive even. I like Zdarsky, but Batgod is just something I hate.
Advancement. Batman is learning all about himself, the secrets within his career and how his world is coming to a climax. Especially since DC has until 2035 to go all in.
Punchline would've been so good if they hadn't done the romance BS 😭 There's a reason we moved away from oldschool Harley, and a henchwoman who fills a similar role like the one Harley left but doesn't want to sleep with her boss, would have been fantastic. Why can't DC just write female sidekicks without making it sexual? 😢
I'd even be okay with them doing SOME stuff, but it's all for "the show". They aren't genuinely romantic but know how to make a big entrance as well as weaponize PDA. Like, they kidnap someone and are playing "house" with them (just to torture/be creepy at them), but where a Harley story might have leaned into her getting caught up in the domestic bliss or something, have Punchline there knowing the game is MAXIMUM IMPACT.
Seems like they try to have thier cake and eat it too with Punchline. There is definitely space for Joker to have a sidekick, but they keep trying to spin her away from him.
"--it has its HIGHS and its LOWS." I really really think of Zdrasky's run currently on the deepest ocean trench in LOW chart. Since the second arc the main story left me feeling meh (the secondary Tim story kept me hooked). Then "Gotham War" occurred and it completely soured me on Zdrasky's run entirely. Sure the run has been a character study of Bruce and Zur but man the Bat Family have been nothing more than "objects" in this run than actual characters. Got really tired of them looking like idiots and jobbing than competent. Not to mention you have Ram V's Detective Comics has been running circles around the run for me. A Bruce who's cracking due to age, Barbatos trying to possess him fully (with Professor Hurt not helping with that), and then the Orgham(the Big Bads of his run) doing their thing to him. Add some truly memorable stuff with Gordon, Two-Face, Nightwing, Talia Al Ghul, Catwoman, Batgirl (Cass), Azrael, and Question (Renee).
I feel like punchline would make a great vilain for Nightwing rather than Batman. Given that Nightwing is more about hope than fear, and she is a nihilist. She could try to break him to gain the Joker approval.
I think that there are elements in the Batman editorial team that see Punchline as merely "Harley 2" but I feel like most fans of the character see her more like the Jokers answer to robin.
They should take a third option, and turn her into Joker's Commissioner Gordon. If they want to play up the social media aspect, have her out there peddling his nihilism like a PR mastermind. Hell, she could be the reason why the Jokerz exist in Batman Beyond.
Punchline grew on me primarily because of Sasha’s analysis. I actually really like her social media/internet angle that was introduced via her podcast very early on in her creation. I wish the content creator aspect was embraced more and the punchline being that it’s all about views because the masses with consume any form of content on the internet and not doing anything about it, so she keeps posting her crimes and making content around them- even live streaming.
Putting this before the video: - I really only can see one spot she can be in that everyone COULD agree on, and if we're keeping any form of the Batman Beyond canon, it's that she should be the origin point of The Jokerz gang. Like, I don't exactly LOATHE her being a Harley replacement, but that feels more boring and we're repeating the same story where eventually she'll need either a redemption arc or just delve into madness more and become her own villain. But I STRONGLY feel like her being the origin point of The Jokerz feels right, we don't know how the gang formed plus it gives her an actual unique history and story trajectory all her own rather than JUST being "Harley 2.0". If you wanted to write a take on the "Joker and Harley" story, just do that as like an alt universe story, making a brand new character with the design and reason for existing basically being "Harley 2.0" feels shallow. After: - I still feel the same, to me she should be the origin of The Jokerz, that route for her just feels right to me.
I feel like lots of characters take a few go-arounds before they find their footing, and the modern industry really suffers from deciding ahead of time who’s going to be popular, pushing them as hard as possible, and then basically dropping them if they don’t immediately take off. You need that perfect meshing of backstory, design, and M.O. to really make something lasting, and you’re rarely going to get that on the first few drafts. You don’t always get a Parasite, far more often you get a Mr. Zero (Mr. Freeze with no tragedy) or the OG Poison Ivy (no powers). This pattern of discarding anything that doesn’t make instant bank is why you end up with fans frustrated over wasted potential. And then the companies complain they aren’t making enough money, and it’s like, “Have you considered pushing trades more? Maybe contracting with actual bookstores, instead of relying on specialty hobby shops? Appealing to people who don’t want to buy a single chapter of a story at a time, with month-long waits in between?” (Like, shit man, most multichap *fanfiction* struggles to keep reader numbers up with waits that long, and that stuff’s free!)
At this point Punchline's just permanatly locked in. The moment they had her other self as Darwin Haliday's (Parallel Version of Jack /Creator of The Joker) girlfriend over anyone else she became his endgame.
With the mess that Harley has become, and how slim the chances are we will see a return to glory (or really anything but a hand-me-down Deadpool from her), I am optimistic about Punchline. I think the biggest thing is they need to decide what her character is, and continue on from there. My favorite moments of the OG Joker and Harley were when they were both top dog, in different ways. Mob husband and mob wife, simply put. If they could bring that back, I would read every issue day one.
punchline is one of my favorite characters because of all her potential. sometimes i wish they took different choices inspo wise (like maybe more of a mime aesthetic, possibly having her as mute while using flash cards) but it’s so fun and refreshing to see an unapologetically *bad* female rouge again, especially after catwoman, harley quinn and ivy were all made to be wannabe heroes.
Yea punchline still fascinating to me, its been great to see her plug along. I thought Miracle Molly was really really interesting. But she couldn't break out really
Ive never read a comic with punchline in it, but whenever I see her brought up, my brain goes to either the "OH BROTHER! THIS GUY STINKS!" or "HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN!?" spongebob memes.
I think an interesting way to expand her character is to use her in other Batfamily books. How would Nightwing handle her is she came to Bludhaven for a minute? If we get the Batgirls series again, I would love to see them go up against her. I know she has faced Red Hood before, but what about Batwoman, how would that go?
They did that. Cage match between Nightwing and Punchline in Bludhaven in... I think either Nightwing 72 or Nightwing 73. He was starting to win but Joker pulled some shit to ensure he lost. (This was also when he was still in his Ric Grayson persona, iirc). They had a rematch later, in Gotham, when he regained his Dick Grayson memories, and easily beat her off-screen.
Harley wanted to be loved by Joker, but Alexis wants to *be* Joker. Her ambition and hubris is the most interesting thing about her. That being said, the pivotal point of any Icarus story is the fall, when fantasy is shattered by reality. How can that happen if she abandons him immediately and without consequence?
Perfectly put. This is the crux of the matter. They are so keen for the character to succeed that that fear letting her fall in story... even that that is actually what would build credence and value to the character by giving her compelling depth
I always thought a more interesting direction for Punchline would've been to make her the Joker's deadly rival. Like, we think she's going to be just another Harley, but then we see that doesn't just want to be WITH the Joker, she wants to BE the Joker. Then that evolves into her thinking she can do it better and trying to replace the Joker. Then it turns into a weird thing where they're constantly trying to kill each other. Basically: while the Joker is obsessively trying to kill/troll Batman, Punchline is obsessively trying to kill Joker and only menaces Batman to annoy Joker.
I have missed your Punchline vids! I really like her for the reasons you point out (especially the online radicalization thing), and I would personally prefer that the Gotham Game mini be pretty much forgotten. Such a frustrating mini that was.
They should change her look because I keep expecting her to activate her Wonder Twin powers. Better yet, replace her with a third sidekick -Joker’s most well-endowed partner, Knock Knock.
I, too, am glad she has returned. I'm also glad they brought her back to basics. Hopefully, she stays as a henchman for a long while, it's too early to make her strike on her own.
I honestly think a good direction would be to switch Harley and Punchline's roles like for there to be a story where Harley tries to prove Punchline is not completely evil and Punchline tries to prove Harley is not really a good person. Then for the twist to be that Harley has a multiple personality that is even worse than Punchline and makes even Punchline have to draw a line essentially a story where both are proven right about each other.
Gotham Game really did a lot of damage to her, while somehow not really telling us much about her. You still get the feeling DC has no idea what they want to do with her, so they keep trying different things. It'd be nice if she actually put in the training time, so she didn't lose every fight since Joker War.
I never like the idea of Punchline and Joke being romantically involved. I've always felt she and Joker should have a mentor/mentee relationship where they stab each other in the back.
I actually love this idea way more. Fuck the weird romance. The mentor role, and them occasionally screwing each other with harmful pranks while laughing about it, sounds much more interesting, and sounds like a true opposite to Batman and robin’s relationship instead of just some corny wannabe Harley Quinn that wants to be something deep.
Me personally I loved her in Joker War(I think that's what the series was called) where she was a mix between Harley and Joker having Harley's acrobatics and Jokers messed up and brilliant mind but them dumbing down her I don't like
I'd d love to see a video about Harley and Punchline and their differences Also, about the fear of being replaced, there's an awesome podcast called "Magnus Archives" that has an entity called Not!Them that appears on some stories and it really channel that fear perfectly. In general, it's an awesome podcast about terror (anyone's fears, each one, appears there), and it's very episodic until about the late seasons (there's five, an it's about 200 episodes), so it's easy to get into. Really really recommend.
Damn ngl I was kinda hoping this new appearance was gonna reveal that whole online influencer and crime boss era was just all a really bad Joker toxin induced drug trip.😂
As in 'what comes after a joke?' I agree, she looked more unconventionally attractive. But they tend to lean into making her too attractive in an obvious way that is uncreative.
I would love to see a comparison of punchline and Harley. Full history!! Their conception, inspirations, how they gained fame in and out of the source material, their relationships with the joker, their feelings and approa h with the jokers, and especially a comparison of their villian eras with and without joker 😍😍😍
You were so excited near the end of your video that your camera went out of focus and went back to normal for a bout over a minute to 2 minutes. It happens when you move at times. Overall the video was good and hope to see more.
I think Punchline is a brilliant character, I would just love to see a few tweaks to simplify her character. I would love if the Batman Adventures comics would take her on in the style of Bruce Timm
I like the idea of Punchline attempting to be what she sees as the important part of the Joke. It seems like Alexis thinks that the Punchline is basically trolling society; maybe even that society itself is the Joke. Basically abusing the tools of society to undermine it by using the hypocrisy within it.
I really like the fight with Nightwing she had back in the Joker Wars! I feel like the batgirls or some of the robins would benefit with her being their antagonist
Would you upload your mind into an android body?
No. I'm not certain that it would be my conscious as well
If it meant feeling a Supernova flowing over me.....then yes
Only if you already measured my Head.
Yes, you know me. XD
But if I could return to flesh too.
Seeing this before watching the video is very concerning
So basically
Harley: I can fix him!
Punchline: I can make him worse!
Both have major "trust me, you need me" energy
Harley was never I can fix. It was always I want to marry him and keep close to him. Have you ever really gotten into any Harley content besides the very surface level? Harleen wanted to fix him but Harley was always there to accompany him. She loved him.
Punchline who knows honestly. She doesn’t make sense but I like her design so i hope they can make her into an interesting character.
@@eclipses3131plus I guess if Harley wanted to fix Joker, then she wouldn’t be willingly committing awful crimes alongside joker for fun and to get his attention.
Joker: I only care about Batman.
from her story, it feels like being the joker's hostage was the highlight of her entire boring life. did you know jack the ripper had a stalker?
Do you remember how Jason Todd was created? The bat books wanted Batman to have a kid sidekick again, but Dick was an adult leading DC's most popular book, so Dick graduated to Nightwing and they created Jason to be the new Robin. That it felt like Punchline was. It felt like the Batman writers wanted to do some Harley and Joker stuff, but Harley was too popular to put her back in that position, so they made Punchline to fill that role. That's why it never made sense that Punchline quickly got her own series and started separating herself from the Joker. It just goes against her purpose, so it makes sense if they are bringing her back to that role.
I was about to make this exact point (good thing I read first). Punchline reads a lot to me like Jason and Tim (we want evil Harley but we can't make Harley evil again).
@@BallsMonkey Making Harley flat evil again (while still bringing up her blood-soaked past, or past depictions, canon depending) would have been as much a regression as making Dick Robin again - or using evil magic to undo a major hero's marriage - and then again using it to undo even the base relationship - old fanboy shutting up now.
@@shoresean1237 it would be a regression if people liked modern harley as much as people like nightwing.
I'd call it repairs.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz Modern Harley is better and developed.
Nightwing is an incredible character. Dark Crisis was awkward as hell with him in his old costume.
Happy they aren't bringing in Marvel's devil to exchange their marriage for a life. If only they would tell Arizona to stop going backwards '64.
And Jason originally was literally a carbon copy of dick. It wasn't until after the first crisis he got his own character. And even then the writers had no idea what to do with him and kept flip flopping around which disinterested/frustrated readers until they just voted him dead. And it was again YEARS until superboy prime's punch brought him back and he was cool for a while but again writers ultimately didn't know what to do with him. And he again got major changes in the new 52 and rebirth... none of which really lasted.
All that to say, when you say Punchline reminds you of Jason.... isn't that the problem? Jason STILL hasn't escaped being created as a Dick replacement. Writers can't be consistent with him to save their lives, nor can they give him long lasting growth, or make him a huge focal point like Dick from time to time. He's always just kinda there now and they very blatantly don't know what to do with that. And this sucks because Red-Hood is my favorite batfamily member when they do good by him (like rebirth Outlaws). But there's nothing that stays consistent with the character.
I think she works best from the perspective of just being a nihilistic and sick individual, but not in the same way of needing actual mental help like with Harley. She is just a bad person with lofty goals and ideals for herself. And the only reason she favors joker above other gotham villains is because of his #1 status. She is more than willing to let him use her to almost any end, as long as she can use his clout to express her voice and perspective while he's doing so.
My pitch for a Black Label one-shot Harley story, very much based on the White Knight interpretation, but with the addition of Punchline.
Dr Harleen Qunizel, the leotard-wearing original Harley has run been off the radar for years, living incognito.
For years, much of the goofy unhinged violent bimbo personality is an act, a leftover survival mechanism to integrate with the Joker and his gang, and afterwards, it's where she compartmentalizes all the murder, terrorism and crimes against decency she's done. Back when she was his partner-in-crime, when Harley's totally relaxed and sure there's no audience to play to, or in incredibly high stress, analytical or otherwise traumatic scenarios where Harley gives into her Dr Quinzel self to prevent Harley's goofball from cracking and shattering under the pressure.
Now, away from Joker for a while, the Doctor Quinzel side of her personality, the analytical professional side, has been able to flourish again.
Probably a teacher grading reports for the psychology unit in Gotham Academy with the rest of the C-and-D listers that's become the staff under Hammerhead. She's teaching Maps and Olive and Kyle and Damian and all the rest. Sure, the architecture's gloomy, and the kids maddening with their adventurous antics, but life's good.
She's even undyed her hair (Jokes' on you, she's not even a REAL blonde!) and nobody notices the faint sing-songy accent she's tempered.
Marian Drews filled in for the murderous, scantily-clad Suicide Squad Harley and the Clown is too in his narcissism or solipsism to notice or care the difference.
Then comes the news. Joker's dead or missing. Now the Joker Gang is in the middle of a civil war - Marian's Harley, the violently slapstick lover as the heir of Joker as his closest confidante.
On the other hand, Alexis Kaye the Punchline, his closest acolyte, the herald to his "message" (in reality, she's just a violent narcissist chasing his coattails for attention and clout) as a movement.
Now, someone's leaked out the existence of Harleen, and as far as they're concerned, she's one loose end, a threat to their own legitimacy - even though Harleen wants nothing to do with any of it. Looks like the only way out, is through. Time to pick up the mallet again.
That's the best part of her character. She's Harley Quinn if she was chaotic evil from the start. I think that's why Joker fucks with her, because she has her own goals that go beyond being his new squeeze. Maybe that's why things went sour between him and Harley, Harley never upgraded from that henchwoman mentality and she got stale. At least, that's what I've always thought.
@@utubrGaming That actually sounds like a dope storyline.
Tynion did an interview with Last Podcast on The Left where he basically admitted that Punchline WAS a Harley replacement. He said that as a small-time writer with DC at the time that he didn't really get to say what happened with big name characters like Harley Quinn if she needed to get pulled into some kind of big event comic. So if he made his own versions of these characters he could do what he wanted without the higher ups taking them away from him.
That's fair, I'm surprised he didn't take the Tom King route of doing a maxiseries on minor characters to impress the big wigs.
That explains it.
Yeah but why? Are these stories interesting if you assume they could be starring 90's Harley Quinn in her place? I don't sense any passion in wanting to tell these stories ABOUT Harleen any more than about Alexis.
It does inspire MY fanficcy brain, that gets going to fill in the blanks in flawed characters.
I would make it Alexis' destiny to learn the reverse of Anti-Life Equation, and become immortal but sort of like a ghost. Then her "power" so to speak would be actually being able to manipulate Joker, like Chaos Theory representing the basic concept of life. Then Punchline would represent the fact Batman doesn't kill, but her power over Joker would represent what is essentailly an ego-death and equivalent of the "I didn't kill him, only lobotomized him" argument.
This relationship is partly inspired by Thanos and Death with the sides reversed, partly by the midpoint twist in Death Note. Partly by cartoon logic where Tom somehow survives Jerry's punchlines.
Sadly, that's why she kinda sucks.
Oh, that is why his shitty OCs ended up in the comics...
“He’s just like me fr.” -Punchline.
i like the idea of just a bunch of punchline alts where she's still a psychopath but modeled herself after OTHER batman villains. like,just think of instead of "punchline" she's "question mark" or "hen" (a female penguin) or "mask" (as in the mask that hides the two-face). i think it would be fun just to see what might have been.XD
That's literally Joker's Daughter/Duela Dent.
I want to see more of her if only because I hate the trend of introducing new characters only to discard them when they're not run away successes.
Common criticism of DC and Marvel is that they don't create enough new, but when they do and people like them they typically drive them into the ground through neglect or overly pushing them to quickly make them a bigger thing. Having different writers tackle characters that were just created so they would be moved to something else makes little sense to me. It usually ends in disaster for the new upcoming star(s) like that clearly happened with Punchline.
The thing is, I don’t even know if Punchline is popular. She’s very prevalent right now, but I honestly wonder if anyone who isn’t keeping up with comics would even have a mild idea she exists. Heck, even those who do probably just think of her as the Harley replacement
the real problem with is that they focus on superhero (and anything related to them) genre
I would argue that new stuff ends up still being tied to existing characters and that they can't really have someone stand on their own.
They never seem to take their time with new characters anymore, I mean I would have personally liked more of the Punchline Podcast, and her trial arc, it should have been longer and more in depth. Punchline needed to focus more on the psychological horror and manipulation part of the character before she was thrown out in the "wild" and used in combat. It would have been great if she used more trickery in her fighting as well instead of just being a martial artist like everybody else. Perhaps dress the hostages up like her and poison them, or pretend to be a hostage herself, only to poison Batman, or steal his blood to make a designer poison.
Which in my opinion could have made for a great storyline for introducing Punchline to the larger universe and audience, it would have shown her as enough of a threat to hurt Batman, but not made her look like an overpowered Harley Replacement.
As for now I think the way to go with Punchline is slow and a bit creepy. She needs to take a step back from the frontlines and work on more poisons or, perhaps work the internet angle more. Instead of leading the Royal Flush Gang or fighting Catwoman, she needs to really cement herself as an original independent character. Sure she should still be working for/with the Joker, using his labs and henchmen and such, but she needs to build her own unique character who is allowed to grown and do her own things, instead of just doing whatever the writers need doing.
Let her be a more modern horror leaning character and not just another brawler with a quirk.
Oh and please don't let her become a hero or anti-hero, we need more properly terrible villains. I don't mind if she has a sad backstory or turns out to maybe actually be a victim in one way or another, but let her stay bad.
As a side note: I want to see Punchline ukulele apology memes
That's not the problem here??@@ryanmatthews3609
If she's the punchline then I will fill in the blanks and call myself Mad Lib!
Not gonna lie, I'm a little surprised that name isn't taken by a batman bad guy
@@BlUsKrEEm Same, the closest I know of are the madcaps in DCUO
Ooh, I like the idea of "Joker's influence on Gotham's youth.". What if Punchline represents the first of "The Jokerz Gang" as seen in Batman Beyond?
That always struck me as an inevitability, and I don't not mean "in real life", but I never questioned where it started. Maybe Punchline is ground zero for disaffection Joker cosplayers turned actual gangbanger and villain.
Now that would make her actually heckin cool. I do like her design too.
it'd be badass if Punchline cut the blue lock of Harley's hair to finalize their color scheme separation
It'd be a good time to bring back classic Red, Black, and Blonde Harley as well. I kinda missed that look, although they can go with the hoodie-jester hat version from Suicide Squad Isekai instead of the old hat
Reminds me of how she ripped out Bluebird's piercing. That said, I kinda don't like the "these two are rivals because of the same man they dated being their only real common thread". I really wanna see her become Bluebird's archrival.
The #1 Punchlinetuber returns!
I always thought it could interesting for Punchline and the Joker to have a mentor-mentee relationship, kind of like Batman and Robin, a dark siblings feel
I honestly don't mind the idea of Punchline being a replacement Harley. If Batman can replace Robin's i don't see why the Joker can't replace his 2nd in command. I imagine when Dick got replaced by Jayson the fans were pissed and wouldn't accept the change, now we got like 10 robins. Harley herself was a replacement too- for bob. Joker's number 1 guy. I honestly would love to see more of Bob in punchline. Have her bring a more dry sarcastic energy to joker's high level camp. It honestly would work better with her mime design too. And i like her working more on the executive side of Joker's operations, that would differentiate her from Harley. Harley never really got involved in the planning stage of Joker's crimes, she just mostly swang a big hammer at whoever was trying to hurt her pudding. Punchline, on the other hand, makes suggestions and acts on her own to make things more difficult for batman, brings a down to earth cynical realism to Joker's high concept insane schemes, kinda like the classic reddit competent henchman. But she lacks Harley's fighting abilty. She probably just surrenders as soon as she faces a fight she can't win. Harley would fight batman to help the Joker, Punchline will just run away and break him out of arkham next week or something. And you could have a good conflict with that.
Honestly would have preferred if she was really just a straight up Harley replacement, but they tried to hard to immediately distance her character from the joker
Honestly her mini where she beat uo the Joker after he saved her life is an evolutionary dead end, she was created as a replacement for Harley to fill that gap, removing her from that and trying to make her the next big villain isnt going to work, i think its best she is kept as the Harley stand in of the main universe since Joker and Harley likely can't be getting back together in the main books for editorial reasons.
as well as the fact they've already made various comics about them breaking up and harley trying to move on, putting them back together now just feels weird
@@knightsblight not to mention the push for Harlivy or Harleyshot in different media, but the Joker have a moll(henchgirl) is too perfect an idea, so obviously switch them out like Batman does with his sidekicks.
@@doujinloverXDThey always try to push her as moving on, but then have Harley date a fellow murderous criminal.
Yeah. It's so artificially trying to make her seem more dangerous and worthy than she is. It's unearned and unconvincing
@@MidnightIsolde she will never be the next big villain, at best a primary rival to a Batgirl like Babs or a cast off nobody like Bluebird she isn't even in Catwoman's league given Selina was trained by some of the worlds best abd has a ton of experience abd can rival Bruce in combat realistically Selina should take her apart in 5 minutes same with Harley who is an Olympic level athlete abd has received training by ARGUS, Power Girl and the Amazon's aswell as several self defense courses and again has a ton of experience, experience is key and training Punchline has none of that at best she is a punk who gets in a lucky shot also the Joker would never save her/value her he is incapable of that.
I don't think this would necessarily be like. Narratively rich but I think it'd be so funny if punchline was like. Jokers starscream. Like, she helps him out, but whenever he does something outside her perception of what his message is/who he should be, she decides she could do it better and tries to usurp him, for one reason or another it doesn't work out, and she keeps crawling back to an anarchist with a love for the perpetual chase, aka the only person who'd tolerate that kind of thing. At least it'd be funny for a period of time before she goes on to do other things. More funny in concept than practice, but still
Your passion for Punchline made me care about the character, she defintely has potential.
Punchline, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.
1. Harley x Punchline vid please.
2. She feels like she is in the Kamala Khan corner of " we want to use this character but no idea what to do with her. Please help."
As messy as everything marvel did with Danny after his series? KETCHROSPECTIVE
The dynamics between supervillains and their minions is fascinating. Would be fun to explore beyond just Harley and Punchline
Yeah it is it as has the potential to be really serious or really comedic. I think it would be funny for lex to end up with a kid/teen sidekick/minion mainly because like how Harley and punchline are clown themed for joker I imagine the kid doing the same thing and Lex Luther walking around with small bold teenager in a suit who’s trying to be just like him is super funny to me
i feel like your videos should be part of the "homework" that anybody will have to do if they would want to adapt Punchline to another medium (be it cartoon live action or video games)
AGREED.
Until they hire you to edit the Punchline stories, this seems the best way to experience her 🤣
SERIOUSLY, DC hire this person!!
I was just thinking the other day, “wait where has Punchline been?” Thank you for the update!!
I don't know why but i feel like she would be a cool villian for tim drake robon or damian wayne robin
She does kind of feel like this inversion to Tim Drake. With both of them seeking out their mentors, instead of the other way around with their predecessor(s).
Punchline is a new character who's still being developed. And its clear she began as a design and a name and its up to future authors to really build her identity.
That said, here's my take:
There are three parts to a basic joke. The premise, the set-up, and the punchline. In a really well put together comedy set, one joke leads into another. In a *GREAT* comedy set, each puncline can become the premise for the next punchline.
Also, the Punchline is the most likely part of a joke to become a meme. Just hearing a famous punchline can call to mind an entire joke that takes 20 minutes to tell. (Ex. "Third base").
But a Punchline's *purpose* in a joke is to contrast the premise and set-up in a way that surprises the audience. When a Punchline "lands" it triggers that positive surprise.
(Ex. "This set isn't working. I'm pulling out. I have five kids; be glad I learned how.")
If Punchline is going to live up to her name, she's probably best used in a role where she spoils plotlines in a way that improves on them.
For example, letting the other prisoners escape foils Batman's escape attempt *and* the Warden's plan to lock people up at the same time.
But it's not funny, so the Punchline doesn't "land" and she escapes in the confusion.
Isn't that what Zoom and The Spot are? Personification of repeating a line like "Im ALWAYS angry!" from MCU even when it doesn't add up to a reference, as an anti-joke. Not trying to be dismissive but Punchline is such a nothing character, I kinda would rather put down the haters for BOTHERING to hate her.
I don't think she's so in-your-face woke or anything, as could be read on the likes of Miles Morales, somewhat unfairly. She's just this plastic-bag-wearing non-character. I don't even wanna say store brand Harley Quinn because, I don't see the connection. It's more just stated, claimed, that she's connected to Joker OR WHATEVER but I don't even see it being played out. It reads like a marketing blurb. Like a toy that never ended up in the saturday morning cartoon.
I'm just more fascinated at myself than anything else, at how little I care, and coming back to caring this much about not giving a shit.
This is for sure what inhaling copium feels like, but it gets to me so bad, I can't even pick at my wn brain deep enough to find the self-awareness on HOW this is me actually caring. Yet the intrusive thought remains, and focus on Punchline I do.
Maybe it's just me liking Waluigi so much.
I think an interesting place to take Punchline might just be, to some extent, Bob from Batman '89. Make her Joker's "Number One Guy". Someone Joker has a legitimate degree of TRUST in. Not just to do what they're told, but someone who, at least kinda, gets the "vision".
Play off the Joker's "entertainer" aspect, and have her be the Agent, the Stage Manager, the person who's whole life is making sure "the Talent" gets what they are looking for. And because of this, she becomes the one person the Joker will seriously listen to. Not OBEY, mind you. Nothing that direct. But she's savvy enough to know what to say to him, and he knows she wants to see the Big Show as much as him.
Example: Joker sees something on the news that tweaked his nose. Politician, business mogul, whoever. And he's ABOUT to derail some scheme to go out there and make an example of them. But Punchline is able to steer him back on course, maybe comes up with a way to include the target IN the scheme. And in this way, she becomes a kind of force multiplier for the Joker.
Or another idea: the Joker is trying to put a plan together, but it's just not working. Show him visibly frustrated and upset that it's just not coming together. And it's Punchline who, not "fixes", but finds the thread that makes the whole plan work. That she understands what he's trying to do well enough that he can accept her help.
Oh no, she is the legendary manager!
I love it. She could also be the one being like, that idea is over-budget, we can either scale down the operation or rob some banks, but that would mean rescheduling and missing the Christmas date, so it could no longer have a murderous Santa Claus.
I like Punchline as a concept. I just don't think the writers are terminally online enough to make the concept work. At least for now.
I always thought she should have been a board user instead of the weird youtuber/influencer thing that went nowhere
I feel like Tynion had a good thing going with it, at a base level that could be expanded on, but those following him were kind of lost on the subject.
Yes, i think that was implicit in her being a podcaster. It should have been obscure online media because the implication was that her content was controversial and therefore a bit underground. Therefore, making her a famous youtube influencer was actually a miss. It makes no real sense for her to have a broad mainstream fanbase. This was worsens by her being upset about 'mean comments'. Really? I see Punchline as wanting the sort of fame of the 'true Kult black metal' niche i.e. purposefully obscure and inaccessible to normies. Likewise, she doesn't so much want Joker's fame or clout, but rather to be evil like him, and therefore infamous. @@obligatory-handle
I'm glad you called attention to the "Godtier fetishization" thing in the run because that is what makes it so unappealing to me. Repulsive even. I like Zdarsky, but Batgod is just something I hate.
Man, what is even happening is Zdarsky's Batman. It makes me tired
Advancement. Batman is learning all about himself, the secrets within his career and how his world is coming to a climax. Especially since DC has until 2035 to go all in.
Zdarvsky's Batman is "A Frank Miller fanboy tried to write a Grant Morrison level story".
@@markmalevolent9384And I mean, in concept, It's a neat character study story, but in execution, IIIIIII've...... not heard good things
Punchline would've been so good if they hadn't done the romance BS 😭 There's a reason we moved away from oldschool Harley, and a henchwoman who fills a similar role like the one Harley left but doesn't want to sleep with her boss, would have been fantastic. Why can't DC just write female sidekicks without making it sexual? 😢
Mercy Graves
Carrie Kelly
Meh it feels like they want their cake and eat it too. Where you can have Harly Quinn do her stuff but also have the Harly Quinn dynamic again.
@@Quantum_Comics literally this, they can't use harley for that role anymore so they just made a replacement
I'd even be okay with them doing SOME stuff, but it's all for "the show". They aren't genuinely romantic but know how to make a big entrance as well as weaponize PDA. Like, they kidnap someone and are playing "house" with them (just to torture/be creepy at them), but where a Harley story might have leaned into her getting caught up in the domestic bliss or something, have Punchline there knowing the game is MAXIMUM IMPACT.
Seems like they try to have thier cake and eat it too with Punchline. There is definitely space for Joker to have a sidekick, but they keep trying to spin her away from him.
"--it has its HIGHS and its LOWS." I really really think of Zdrasky's run currently on the deepest ocean trench in LOW chart. Since the second arc the main story left me feeling meh (the secondary Tim story kept me hooked). Then "Gotham War" occurred and it completely soured me on Zdrasky's run entirely. Sure the run has been a character study of Bruce and Zur but man the Bat Family have been nothing more than "objects" in this run than actual characters. Got really tired of them looking like idiots and jobbing than competent.
Not to mention you have Ram V's Detective Comics has been running circles around the run for me. A Bruce who's cracking due to age, Barbatos trying to possess him fully (with Professor Hurt not helping with that), and then the Orgham(the Big Bads of his run) doing their thing to him. Add some truly memorable stuff with Gordon, Two-Face, Nightwing, Talia Al Ghul, Catwoman, Batgirl (Cass), Azrael, and Question (Renee).
I definitely want to see the video comparing and contrasting the two Joker sidekicks.
Lmbo…😂😂😂…Did you say “Henchwench” ????? Perfect…
I feel like punchline would make a great vilain for Nightwing rather than Batman. Given that Nightwing is more about hope than fear, and she is a nihilist. She could try to break him to gain the Joker approval.
I think that there are elements in the Batman editorial team that see Punchline as merely "Harley 2" but I feel like most fans of the character see her more like the Jokers answer to robin.
They should take a third option, and turn her into Joker's Commissioner Gordon. If they want to play up the social media aspect, have her out there peddling his nihilism like a PR mastermind. Hell, she could be the reason why the Jokerz exist in Batman Beyond.
Always nice to see more Punchline vids from you!
Punchline grew on me primarily because of Sasha’s analysis. I actually really like her social media/internet angle that was introduced via her podcast very early on in her creation. I wish the content creator aspect was embraced more and the punchline being that it’s all about views because the masses with consume any form of content on the internet and not doing anything about it, so she keeps posting her crimes and making content around them- even live streaming.
I'm also very interested in the possibilities of Punchline but to think she was pushed alittle to hard out the gate
Putting this before the video:
- I really only can see one spot she can be in that everyone COULD agree on, and if we're keeping any form of the Batman Beyond canon, it's that she should be the origin point of The Jokerz gang. Like, I don't exactly LOATHE her being a Harley replacement, but that feels more boring and we're repeating the same story where eventually she'll need either a redemption arc or just delve into madness more and become her own villain. But I STRONGLY feel like her being the origin point of The Jokerz feels right, we don't know how the gang formed plus it gives her an actual unique history and story trajectory all her own rather than JUST being "Harley 2.0". If you wanted to write a take on the "Joker and Harley" story, just do that as like an alt universe story, making a brand new character with the design and reason for existing basically being "Harley 2.0" feels shallow.
After:
- I still feel the same, to me she should be the origin of The Jokerz, that route for her just feels right to me.
Artists also cant decide on if she is wearing knee-high combat boots or heels.
I feel like lots of characters take a few go-arounds before they find their footing, and the modern industry really suffers from deciding ahead of time who’s going to be popular, pushing them as hard as possible, and then basically dropping them if they don’t immediately take off. You need that perfect meshing of backstory, design, and M.O. to really make something lasting, and you’re rarely going to get that on the first few drafts. You don’t always get a Parasite, far more often you get a Mr. Zero (Mr. Freeze with no tragedy) or the OG Poison Ivy (no powers). This pattern of discarding anything that doesn’t make instant bank is why you end up with fans frustrated over wasted potential.
And then the companies complain they aren’t making enough money, and it’s like, “Have you considered pushing trades more? Maybe contracting with actual bookstores, instead of relying on specialty hobby shops? Appealing to people who don’t want to buy a single chapter of a story at a time, with month-long waits in between?” (Like, shit man, most multichap *fanfiction* struggles to keep reader numbers up with waits that long, and that stuff’s free!)
At this point Punchline's just permanatly locked in. The moment they had her other self as Darwin Haliday's (Parallel Version of Jack /Creator of The Joker) girlfriend over anyone else she became his endgame.
I'm glad some people are still riding the Punchline express with me 😅. Let's gooo
Choo chooooo!
Riding this train till the end. 🚂🚂🚂
Allonsy!
Punchline my beloved
With the mess that Harley has become, and how slim the chances are we will see a return to glory (or really anything but a hand-me-down Deadpool from her), I am optimistic about Punchline.
I think the biggest thing is they need to decide what her character is, and continue on from there. My favorite moments of the OG Joker and Harley were when they were both top dog, in different ways. Mob husband and mob wife, simply put. If they could bring that back, I would read every issue day one.
punchline is one of my favorite characters because of all her potential. sometimes i wish they took different choices inspo wise (like maybe more of a mime aesthetic, possibly having her as mute while using flash cards) but it’s so fun and refreshing to see an unapologetically *bad* female rouge again, especially after catwoman, harley quinn and ivy were all made to be wannabe heroes.
I dig Punchline. I'm glad she didnt vanish, hopefully we'll see.more of her.
Harley Quinn " I can fix him."
Punchline "I can make him worse"
She does interesting in even Joker thinks she is a replacement, but fits more in doing her own thing.
Yea punchline still fascinating to me, its been great to see her plug along. I thought Miracle Molly was really really interesting. But she couldn't break out really
Ive never read a comic with punchline in it, but whenever I see her brought up, my brain goes to either the "OH BROTHER! THIS GUY STINKS!" or "HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN!?" spongebob memes.
I think an interesting way to expand her character is to use her in other Batfamily books. How would Nightwing handle her is she came to Bludhaven for a minute? If we get the Batgirls series again, I would love to see them go up against her. I know she has faced Red Hood before, but what about Batwoman, how would that go?
They did that. Cage match between Nightwing and Punchline in Bludhaven in... I think either Nightwing 72 or Nightwing 73. He was starting to win but Joker pulled some shit to ensure he lost. (This was also when he was still in his Ric Grayson persona, iirc).
They had a rematch later, in Gotham, when he regained his Dick Grayson memories, and easily beat her off-screen.
Love this video and your look ❤❤
OBSESSED with your hair in this video
I just checked for a Punchline update from you last week.
As soon as I read the latest Batman issue I knew this video was coming.😊
i just realized that Punchline looks like Shadowheart from BG3, lol.
Yes. Best girl indeed ❤
Harley wanted to be loved by Joker, but Alexis wants to *be* Joker. Her ambition and hubris is the most interesting thing about her. That being said, the pivotal point of any Icarus story is the fall, when fantasy is shattered by reality. How can that happen if she abandons him immediately and without consequence?
Perfectly put. This is the crux of the matter. They are so keen for the character to succeed that that fear letting her fall in story... even that that is actually what would build credence and value to the character by giving her compelling depth
I know it's about punchline, but I still think zur-en-arr batman should just be a space based batman. just a fun little coincidence in space.
God I WANT to love her so much 😢
Man you are really good at making videosn
Please do Flatline Next she just came back in the last two issues of Batman and Robin
I always thought a more interesting direction for Punchline would've been to make her the Joker's deadly rival.
Like, we think she's going to be just another Harley, but then we see that doesn't just want to be WITH the Joker, she wants to BE the Joker. Then that evolves into her thinking she can do it better and trying to replace the Joker. Then it turns into a weird thing where they're constantly trying to kill each other.
Basically: while the Joker is obsessively trying to kill/troll Batman, Punchline is obsessively trying to kill Joker and only menaces Batman to annoy Joker.
Here for the contrast video,and thank you for bringing BatMan's voice back!
I have missed your Punchline vids! I really like her for the reasons you point out (especially the online radicalization thing), and I would personally prefer that the Gotham Game mini be pretty much forgotten. Such a frustrating mini that was.
Hehehe "henchwench" has had me giggling at random points all day since I first saw this video, you're the best Sasha 😂
MAMA THIS HAIR IS A SERVE .... that's all
They should change her look because I keep expecting her to activate her Wonder Twin powers. Better yet, replace her with a third sidekick -Joker’s most well-endowed partner, Knock Knock.
I, too, am glad she has returned. I'm also glad they brought her back to basics. Hopefully, she stays as a henchman for a long while, it's too early to make her strike on her own.
I honestly think a good direction would be to switch Harley and Punchline's roles like for there to be a story where Harley tries to prove Punchline is not completely evil and Punchline tries to prove Harley is not really a good person. Then for the twist to be that Harley has a multiple personality that is even worse than Punchline and makes even Punchline have to draw a line essentially a story where both are proven right about each other.
Gotham Game really did a lot of damage to her, while somehow not really telling us much about her. You still get the feeling DC has no idea what they want to do with her, so they keep trying different things. It'd be nice if she actually put in the training time, so she didn't lose every fight since Joker War.
I never like the idea of Punchline and Joke being romantically involved. I've always felt she and Joker should have a mentor/mentee relationship where they stab each other in the back.
I actually love this idea way more. Fuck the weird romance. The mentor role, and them occasionally screwing each other with harmful pranks while laughing about it, sounds much more interesting, and sounds like a true opposite to Batman and robin’s relationship instead of just some corny wannabe Harley Quinn that wants to be something deep.
Me personally I loved her in Joker War(I think that's what the series was called) where she was a mix between Harley and Joker having Harley's acrobatics and Jokers messed up and brilliant mind but them dumbing down her I don't like
Tbf though, she was a bit too OP in Joker War. So, toning down her physical prowess is good. She should be mostly a manipulation and chemicals threat
I don't really get a chance to follow many comics. I do love the coverage and enthusiasm for the topics you pick.
YESSS!! Please do a video comparing and contrasting Harley and punchline
The hair is flawless
maybe i’m a little too harley obsessed but i’d definitely like to see a video abt how different harley and punchline are
I'd d love to see a video about Harley and Punchline and their differences
Also, about the fear of being replaced, there's an awesome podcast called "Magnus Archives" that has an entity called Not!Them that appears on some stories and it really channel that fear perfectly. In general, it's an awesome podcast about terror (anyone's fears, each one, appears there), and it's very episodic until about the late seasons (there's five, an it's about 200 episodes), so it's easy to get into. Really really recommend.
This was a good look for you.
U reading the new green lantern issues Sasha the 10th one was so good we need more
Issue 10 things really picked up!
"Everyone lives because you simply haven't decided to kill them"
lol Batwank 😂
Yes, because it's Bruce's fault that the criminal justice system is a total mess...
Damn ngl I was kinda hoping this new appearance was gonna reveal that whole online influencer and crime boss era was just all a really bad Joker toxin induced drug trip.😂
Thank you! I'd love to see a Harley and Punchline comparative video
Can you talk about Damian and his recent comic
We want the comparison video!
LOVE this Wig Sasha. HATE that they felt the need to make Punchline "pretty/hot" I thought Alexis's original look was interesting.
As in 'what comes after a joke?' I agree, she looked more unconventionally attractive. But they tend to lean into making her too attractive in an obvious way that is uncreative.
I would love to see a comparison of punchline and Harley. Full history!! Their conception, inspirations, how they gained fame in and out of the source material, their relationships with the joker, their feelings and approa h with the jokers, and especially a comparison of their villian eras with and without joker 😍😍😍
You were so excited near the end of your video that your camera went out of focus and went back to normal for a bout over a minute to 2 minutes. It happens when you move at times. Overall the video was good and hope to see more.
I'm enjoying Batman's Midlife Crisis overall, but man are there some weird decisions along the way.
Yes I want a video of this!
I think Punchline is a brilliant character, I would just love to see a few tweaks to simplify her character. I would love if the Batman Adventures comics would take her on in the style of Bruce Timm
I've never read a story with Punchline, but I feel like I like her. Probably because of your videos, lol.
It would be interesting if instead of Harley Quinn Gaga's character in Joker 2 was Punchline
Your hair looks so great girl
I like the idea of Punchline attempting to be what she sees as the important part of the Joke.
It seems like Alexis thinks that the Punchline is basically trolling society; maybe even that society itself is the Joke. Basically abusing the tools of society to undermine it by using the hypocrisy within it.
I really like the fight with Nightwing she had back in the Joker Wars! I feel like the batgirls or some of the robins would benefit with her being their antagonist